The Saturday night immigration arrest of former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil raises a multitude of legal questions – but none as important as how the “kidnapping” of President Donald Trump’s “first political prisoner” was allowed to unfold.
That’s according to attorney and columnist for The Nation Elie Mystal, who warned readers in an opinion piece on Wednesday that while Trump’s order to arrest the Palestinian activist was “technically legal,” it was permitted only because Trump’s MAGA base of supporters elevated him to the presidency a second time.
“This government can use its monopoly of force in this way because the American people elected a fascist wanna-be dictator to rule over them,” Mystal wrote. “That wanna-be dictator, Donald Trump, promised to do exactly what he is doing.”
He added: “The warrant for Khalil’s abduction was signed on November 5, 2024, by over 77 million people who voted for fascism, and 90 million eligible voters who couldn’t bring themselves to vote against fascism. The government can do this because this is what people who support Trump want the government to do.”
But Mystal also devoted his Wednesday op-ed in The Nation to voice his belief that the right questions surrounding Khalil’s arrest have not been raised.
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“The only relevant question is not ‘how can the government do this?’ It is ‘how can we who oppose this fascist regime stop them.’” And the law provides few answers, the legal expert pointed out.
“The law has always been inadequate in the face of the monopoly of force and a dictator willing to use it,” he said. “The law will always shift and change to accommodate and appease the men who rule with the guns.”
Mystal closed by telling readers that Khalil's “peaceful protest” is not a crime in this country but added: “At least it wasn’t until this country installed a deranged bigot in power.”
He concluded that “only a popular uprising can defeat fascist overlords,” and warned that the arrest of Khalil – who he referred to as “a political prisoner” – would not be the last if the public sits idly by and waits “for the courts to sort it out.”